Dante Exum likely to make 2019-20 Utah Jazz debut on Friday

Dante Exum will likely make his 2019-20 season debut on Friday when the Utah Jazz take on the Memphis Grizzlies as he’s listed as ‘probable.’

The Utah Jazz are off to an undeniably solid start as they sit at 8-3, good for a tie with the Houston Rockets for second in the Western Conference. Still, a lot of those wins have come in too close for comfort battles wherein the Jazz have shown some major areas of weakness.

In other words, they most certainly have room to improve if they are to remain among the elite and hopefully continue to climb as well. And if everything goes as ideally as they can imagine, then they may be on the cusp of getting a significant boost on Friday.

The reason for that is that the long-awaited return of Dante Exum appears to be nearly upon us. After weeks of waiting for the oft-injured wing to battle back from his latest recovery process – this time from a knee surgery – all indications are that he’ll be set to hit the court on Friday when the Utah Jazz visit the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Utah Jazz officially announced that Exum’s status for the upcoming contest is probable, which indicates that there’s a very high chance that he’ll make his season debut. Originally, there was expectation that Dante could be back as early as last Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks, so despite the small additional delay, it stands to reason that this announcement and upgrade in status could actually be the real deal this time.

All indications are that Exum has worked his tail off to fight his way through rehab and put himself in a position to be a successful contributor for the Jazz. Although he’s been beleaguered with injury after injury and setback after setback, Dante has shown flashes of potential in the past that have left the Jazz tantalized with what he could become.

If Exum can provide an athletic scoring punch off the bench and elite wing defense like he showed in the 2018 NBA Playoffs against James Harden, he will be a supremely valuable piece of this Jazz team. He’ll likely have a hard time finding minutes at first both because Quin Snyder and the Jazz will be overly cautious with him and because Emmanuel Mudiay has proven that he deserves a spot in the rotation.

So expect a bit of a slow start from Exum, but if he’s able to build back into something special, he will be exceptional for the Jazz. Fortunately for Dante and his team, the Jazz are in the midst of a slate against weaker opponents that should provide an opportunity for him to ease his way back with less pressure than he’d face against tougher foes. Hopefully by the time the Jazz’s schedule gets more difficult, the Jazz will have worked Exum back into a rhythm.

But initially, my guess is we’ll only see about 10 minutes from him in the game against Memphis, but even that will be an exciting step forward in his progress after it’s been so long since we’ve seen him in action. His last meaningful minutes, not counting the tiny stint he played between injuries, came in January of this year where he was playing the best basketball of his career. If he rediscovers that version of himself, he’ll undoubtedly be a key X-factor for the Jazz.

The battle against the Grizzlies will be a big one for several other reasons beyond Dante’s return. The Jazz will be going up against former Jazzmen Jae Crowder and Grayson Allen, and they’ll be aiming for their fifth consecutive win.

Even more significant is the fact that this game will mark the return of Mike Conley to Memphis wherein he played the first 12 years of his NBA career. It will no doubt make for an emotional night for him and it will be intriguing to see how it affects him on the floor.

Between all the reunions and the projected return of Dante Exum, Friday’s bout in Memphis is set to be a memorable one. The game will get underway at 6:00 PM MT and will be televised nationally on ESPN.